Bill Amendment: IL HB1569 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: EVICT-IMPOUND FILE-DISMISSAL

Status: 2023-03-27 - House Floor Amendment No. 2 Rule 19(c) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB1569 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB1569-House_Amendment_002.html

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Rep. La Shawn K. Ford

Filed: 3/17/2023

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AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 1569
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 1569, AS AMENDED,
by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the
following:
"Section 5. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by
changing Section 9-121 and by adding Section 9-123 as follows:
(735 ILCS 5/9-121)
Sec. 9-121. Impounding Sealing of court file.
(a) Definition. As used in this Section: ,
"Court "court file" means the court file created when an
eviction action is filed with the court.
"Impound" and "impoundment" have the same meaning as
"impounded" under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 8, as now or
hereafter amended.
"Seal" and "sealing", as previously used in this Act, have
the same meaning as "impounded" under Illinois Supreme Court

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Rule 8, as now or hereafter amended.
(b) Discretionary impoundment sealing of court file. The
court may order that a court file in an eviction action be
impounded placed under seal if the court finds that the
plaintiff's action is sufficiently without a basis in fact or
law, which may include a lack of jurisdiction, or if the court
finds that placing the court file under seal is clearly in the
interests of justice, and that the interests of justice
outweigh those interests are not outweighed by the public's
interest in knowing about the record. If a defendant files a
motion to impound a court file, the court may consider a
plaintiff's written response even if the plaintiff does not
appear in person on the motion.
(c) Mandatory impoundment sealing of court file. The court
file relating to an eviction action brought against a tenant
under Section 9-207.5 of this Code or as set forth in
subdivision (h)(6) of Section 15-1701 of this Code shall be
impounded placed under seal.
(d) (Blank). This Section is operative on and after August
1, 2022.
(e) Except as provided in subsection (g), any person who
disseminates a sealed or impounded court file under this
Section, or the information contained therein, for commercial
purposes shall be liable for a civil penalty of $2,000 or twice
the actual and consequential damages sustained, whichever is
greater, as well as the costs of the action, including

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reasonable attorney's fees. A landlord providing or receiving
an individual reference about a prospective tenant is not
considered a commercial purpose and is not subject to the
penalty identified in this subsection.
(f) The Attorney General may enforce a violation of this
Section as an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and
Deceptive Business Practices Act. All remedies, penalties, and
authority granted to the Attorney General by the Consumer
Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act shall be available
to the Attorney General for the enforcement of this Section.
(g) Nothing in this Section prohibits a landlord from
receiving a reference from a previous landlord of a
prospective tenant. Nothing in this Section prohibits a
landlord from providing a reference for a previous or current
tenant to a prospective landlord of that tenant.
(Source: P.A. 102-5, eff. 5-17-21.)
(735 ILCS 5/9-123 new)
Sec. 9-123. Notice and dismissal for failure to prosecute
after 365 days.
(a) If, at any time after the filing of an eviction action,
the plaintiff has not further prosecuted the case for a period
of 365 days, the court shall send to the parties written
notice:
(1) informing the parties of the date of the most
recent action taken by the plaintiff in the case; and

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(2) directing the plaintiff to take one of the
following actions not later than 10 business days after
the date of the notice:
(A) further prosecute the case; or
(B) dismiss the case.
(b) If the plaintiff fails to take an action described in
paragraph (2) of subsection (a) within the time prescribed by
paragraph (2) of subsection (a):
(1) the defendant in the eviction action may file a
motion with the court to dismiss the case; or
(2) the court, on the court's own motion, may dismiss
the case.
(c) The form of the notice described in subsection (a) may
be developed by each judicial circuit in accordance with its
practice or the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts
may develop a standardized form.
(d) A judicial circuit, in its discretionary control over
its records, may adopt a rule to follow this procedure in a
shorter amount of time than 365 days.
Section 10. The Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business
Practices Act is amended by adding Section 2z.6 as follows:
(815 ILCS 505/2z.6 new)
Sec. 2z.6. Dissemination of a sealed or impounded court
file. A private entity or person that violates Section 9-121

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of the Code of Civil Procedure commits an unlawful practice
within the meaning of this Act.".